Tuesday, 2 June 2009

Intense heat & the wonder that is online shopping.

True happiness would be if the myth about Scottish weather (always cold or snowing) was actually true. Even though I'm half SE Asian, I still can't stand the heat! Anything above 8°C is too hot for me to handle. True story. So imagine my immense displeasure when I read the thermometer today:

It's a little hard to read but basically it was THIRTY degrees celsius! I think that equates to around 86°F. Disgusting.

Luckily there were two deliveries to cheer me up - the first was a huge box of meat straight from a local farm. I think there were roughly 10 packets of this steak mince, and that only acounted for a third of the overall weight. Crazy.

The second was full of Italian deliciousness. As you can see, I had lots of fun demolishing the packaging to see what was inside.

First to be uncovered was fresh pasta, some of which was basil and some mushroom.

This is for sibling no.3's 10th birthday. He is completely enamoured with stuffed pasta. It's a possibility that he may be getting a pasta machine so he can make his own - for now though, the good bought stuff will have to suffice.

Next up was a tiny panettone. I show you this not because I especially enjoy it (dried fruit, specifically dried peel, makes me gag), but simply because it was so darn adorable:

Third, some delightfully retro (in design only!) stock cubes.

This is why I love my mum:

I've always wanted to try a '00' flour, just to see it lives up to the hype. It was 99p for 1kg, which isn't too bad but you probably wouldn't use it for everyday things like a roux.I cannot wait to try my hand at some '00' dough.Other items included a jar of pesto, and another of beautifully russet-red sundried tomato paste.There was a large silver packet of yeast (which I'm slightly worried about because the whole thing has to be used within a month of opening), a bottle of wine*, marinated olives, buffalo mozzarella, pizza mozzarella (proper stuff, just dried slightly so it doesn't leak milky cheese juice everywhere upon cooking) a ball of pizza dough, and carnaroli rice for risotto.

I must say, I was sceptical about the ready-made dough, but tried it tonight and it was pretty fantastic. The ingredients were 00 flour, olive oil, water, sugar, salt and yeast, so it wasn't gross & overly-processed. It was shatteringly crisp and pretty much perfect. I still don't really get the point though, because you still have to roll it out which is the most labour-intensive part of pizza making anyway. Actually making the dough is the easiest part.

Most teenagers get excited over the prospect of an alcoholic beverage and a house party - I get excited over deli items. Hmm.

*Please don't ask me about it.. I can tell the difference between a bad wine and a good wine, but that's about the extent of my skill concerning fermented grape juice.